Category Archives: Touring

Joe “The Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie has a new book coming out: Lightning In A Saddle, an incredible true story of Evelyn Hamilton. BikePortland refers to it as “the untold, unbelievable but true story of cycling’s female Jackie Robinson meets Saving Private Ryan.” We check in with Joe for his 5th visit to our show and get the scoop.

Darius is working with a new way to share your things, and keep them too! Omni started as a storage option for people’s extra stuff, but now is also working to find people who want to rent the objects you think are cool, but don’t use all the time; they’re described as “an on-demand access company for things you don’t use every day, but can’t live without” That margarita mixer & those snowboarding pants just sit unused most of the time, why not put them to work earning money for you and making someone else’s life more interesting, while retaining access whenever you need them? “Rent what you want now, store what you’ll want later.” Omni just launched in Portland; Darius breaks it down for us.

Also, Aaron celebrates an anniversary & Brock rents a car. After the regular segments Brock laments the end of his regular cohosting duties & they both bag on Dave Matthews.

Note: this episode contains backup audio that captured what our primary equipment failed to. We apologize for the audio quality, but figure you’d rather hear a lo-fi version than none at all. Looking forward to bringing you a full quality show next week!

Seth did the Steens Mazama 1000, an endurance racing event. He knows a thing or two about “type 2 fun,” the kind of fun where you tell stories afterward because it was no fun when it happened! What happened: on the show.

This week, Mike Cobb tells us about his departure from an ordinary bike mechanic’s life into a quest to design and outfit a bike that can respond to crisis situations. How do you mount a windmill to a bike? And why? Well, when the grid goes down, you know who to call. Mike details his outrageous cycle tour through the American southwest and what he terms “radical disassembly” to make a cargo bike fit into a prescribed box for shipping. Among other things!

Also, Bicycle/Race, Adonia Lugo’s “…unforgettable picture of Los Angeles—and the United States—from the perspective of two wheels.” is available from Microcosm Publishing and wherever you get your books.

Hey, did you know that our friends at Path Less Pedaled have a podcast? Check it out!

Adele hasn’t been on the show in a while, and that’s because she’s been working on a secret project with Brock: they have a bun in the oven! That’s right, little baby Cyrus is preparing for birth into the world as we speak, and Adele joins the show to fill us in on what it’s like to continue bicycling into pregnancy. It’s not all fun and games, but haters gonna hate, and there aren’t that many haters, really. And there is a lot of fun to be had!

DBR is a Portland Bike Fun Icon, and also rode his bike across the Australian continent. We ask him about the details, and he delivers, including the preferred cheap beer VB, catching roadhouses before they close, and dealing with critters. Lots of critters.

Sarah Gilbert of Cordilleran Tours in Portland, Oregon leads people into the natural beauty of the Columbia River Gorge on bikes, on foot, or in vehicles to explore and discover! We talk with her about the ins-and-outs of getting people into the nature they want to see, and what makes this particular region so spectaular – and special. (oh yeah, and Sarah’s been on the show before, in-studio and live!)

Also: Aaron goes on vacation to Mexico City, and Guthrie writes his will.

It’s a first for us – best-ofs! The Sprocket has been around long enough for a few years’ worth of episodes to fall off of the major distribution channels’ feeds, and with all of our staff busy (Guthrie in town, Aaron in Mexico & Brock in Utah), we thought we’d bring you two conversations with a fabulous bicycle touring author, Ellee Thalheimer!

Ellee is the author of the Cycling Sojourner series of bicycle touring guidebooks, one for Oregon and one for Washington (with the much-sought-after New Jersey edition still frustratingly out of sight in the future), featuring made-to-order routes in accessible lengths of 3-5 days each in some of the most scenic parts of these states, all delivered with her own charming personality and style. Get our copy and start planning your tours today!

Our first interview with her in 2011 from Episode 77 features Aaron Flores as a guest cohost before he joined the program full time with Brock Dittus & his wife Adele talking to Ellee about the Oregon edition; the second is from 2014 on Episode 187 about the Washington edition.

Enjoy, and see you next week with a fresh new live show from the Airstream. Cheers!

Ashley Lance & Phil Barber are friends of planned guest Tonya (who will be on soon) with some stories. Ashley & her partner Daniel take a tour in Italy (we also talked to them about their Cuba tour), while Phil rides the coastal forest, leads rides themed around disaster, and both of them are helping to plan the Worst Day of the Year Ride though their work with Events by Axiom.